Meghan Hammond is one young farmer who has been bullied by oil giant TransCanada, seeking to push through the Keystone XL pipeline. But she and other local farmers and citizens have pulled together to say no to the pipeline.
These Nebraskans made a statement, but they need more hands and hearts on their side.
Check out the video below.
The NGO group formed to take on the challenge, We Love Our Land, have the following to say:
There is no good public policy reason to approve the Keystone XL pipeline.
The argument that the pipeline will support U.S. oil independence is false. The Keystone oil will be piped across the Midwest down to the Gulf of Mexico where it will likely be shipped as a source of cheap energy for our economic competitors in Asia, including China.
TransCanada has testified before Congress that it will not commit the tar sands for U.S. domestic consumption. And they have admitted the pipeline will lead to higher U.S. oil prices in a filing: “Access to the USGC [U.S. Gulf Coast] via the Keystone XL Pipeline is expected to strengthen Canadian crude oil pricing in [the Midwest] by removing this oversupply…The resultant increase in the price of heavy crude is estimated to provide an increase in annual revenue to the Canadian producing industry in 2013 of US $2 billion to US $3.9 billion.”
The argument that the pipeline is good for the U.S. economy is wrong. Sure, allowing the pipeline to go across the Midwest will generate profits but those profits will belong to foreign oil companies and not U.S. companies. In fact, the project will generate as much as $3.9 billion in additional revenues for foreign oil companies. And while jobs are critical, for the billions that American lands will generate for foreign oil companies, we will only get 35 permanent jobs in the U.S.
The argument that approving the pipeline will not have a significant impact on greenhouse emissions is wrong. The Environmental Protection Agency has concluded that the tar sands oil from Canada will have a significant impact on greenhouse emissions.
The argument by the State Department – now under investigation – that the oil would be exported by other means if the pipeline were not approved has been completely undermined by the decision of British Columbia to oppose a route through that province.
The only people who want Keystone to happen are rich foreign oil executives, who would make billions; our economic competitors in Asia who will get a cheap source of energy; and the Koch Brothers, who are already in the business of processing petroleum coke, one of the most toxic byproducts of the oil shipped through the Keystone pipeline.
It’s up to us to make sure that President Obama sees all this – and that he does the right thing by stopping Keystone XL from moving forward.
Check out the call to action HERE.
